Minutes March book: One Day

One Day

by David Nicholls

(chosen by Domestic Goddess)

Theme: From the page to the screen


Domestic Goddess chose this book as she had already seen the movie and enjoyed it, and wondered if the book would be as good. She was particularly interested in whether any aspects of the book would be different from that of the movie.

About the author:

David Nicholls is an English novelist and screenwriter. He trained as an actor before becoming a write and has written for TV and film as well as three best-selling novels. He has twice been nominated for BAFTA awards for his screen-writing.
He has written the screenplays for film versions of both Starter for Ten (his first novel) and The Understudy (his second novel).
His third novel, One Day, was published in hardback in 2009, and stayed in the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list for ten weeks on publication. It has sold over five million copies and has been translated into forty languages. David wrote the screenplay for Lone Scherfig's film adaptation starring Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway, which was released in 2010. He is currently writing his fourth novel, as well as working on a feature-film version of Dickens' Great Expectations.

(general biographical detail from the author's website)

What the publisher says about the book:

ONE DAY is the multi-million copy bestselling novel that brilliantly captures the experiences of a generation. 

'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.' He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.' 

15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. 

Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? 

Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY. From the author of the massive bestseller STARTER FOR TEN.

What we discussed about the book:

• How does the pace of the book compare with the pace of the movie?
• Were we (and if so, why were we) shocked by the ending?
• How many of us consciously thought about it being a male author? 
• How well the female characters were captured.
• Were there similarities between this story and the movie of When Harry met Sally? What were they?
• How did we fell about the character of Ian?  Why didn't he get that Em didn't find him funny?  Did she ever try to love him? Was she his one true love?
• Was it 20 wasted years? Why or why not?  Was it frustrating to the reader?
• In the Tex-Mex - in what ways did the author use both humour and pathos to create those scenes.
• In what ways did the affair with the principal display a life spinning out of control?
• Was Em's life a product of low self-esteem and confidence?
• What was teh turning point? Was it the day she took off to see the publisher, her book being accepted for publications?
• Was Em actually frumpy, or was that only her self-perception?
• How would things have been different if she had received Dex's letter from India?
• Why couldn't Dex say what he wanted to if he wasn't drunk? Why was his attention constantly drawn to other women?
• Why did he (or did he?) fall in love with Sylvie?
• Is Dex a good father?
• Would we have checked up on Dex when he was alone with Jasmine? Why didn't Sylvie?
• How clever the structure of this book is - the 'one day' snippets move the plot forward and build character and detail.
• How is the tension developed throughout the 20 years?
• Was this a funny book?

And then we were sidetracked into:

• How often would we read a book after seeing a movie vs the opposite way around?
• The concept of living day to day, 'this will do'
• Did we empathise more with these characters because their ages made them our contemporaries?

In other news, we discussed:

• The mystery of MH 370. What really happened? Will we ever know?
• The pain scale of 1-10...whoever thought that up? And how effective is it in practice?
• Deteriorating eyesight...who needs glasses for menus in restaurants?
• We revisited Turkish hamans with updated information

Ratings:
Range: 6.5 to 9
Average:  7.66

Next book: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yate (chosen by CH)